Fans customized the Wicked movie poster to more closely match the original Broadway poster.

Original Broadway Poster:

Movie poster:

Some fans, disappointed by the poster, altered it to be closer to the original, moving Grande’s hand and lowering the brim of Erivo’s hat to cover her eyes. The edits prompted Erivo to respond. “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen

“None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us,” Erivo continued. “The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real life human being, who chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer… because, without words we communicate with our eyes.”

So, this seems like a completely reasonable reaction to fans making fan content.

  • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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    5 hours ago

    because, without words we communicate with our eyes

    IDK, the original and the edit both communicate way more mystique and mischievousness than the one with her eyes visible

  • Anderenortsfalsch@discuss.tchncs.de
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    4 hours ago

    https://www.sbs.com.au/voices/article/headless-women-project-highlights-gross-sexism-in-movie-posters/2bhgrghmc

    Compare movie posters of women whose eyes or even whole heads you can’t see or that are reduced to legs vs. movie posters of male actors to whom this is rarely done and it is clear what is happening.
    Top this with the problems people of color face and that the new poster takes away her facial look, the look of a person of color and replaces everything that reminds of her with a bland face that could be anyone and I understand her anger.

    She could have explained the issue instead of lashing out, because so many of her fans (and people in ths thread) don’t understand the problem and education is necessary and more helpful for everyone.

    • FurtiveFugitive@lemm.ee
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      4 hours ago

      That article, which does highlight a valid criticism of society and Hollywood, doesn’t really apply to this scenario. The fan edit isn’t about sexing up the characters. The edit is doing a more effective job of recreating the original poster than the movie studio did.

      I don’t fault the actors or even the studio for wanting to feature their high paid actors on the movie poster but by trying to recreate the original but failing to capture the mood, of course fans are going to want to put their spin on it. There is probably even a middle ground that could have been struck to make her face mysterious but still mostly visible.

      Is it rude and offensive when fans edit the Lord of the Rings films to better reflect the original story as told in the books?

      In the end, I’m pretty sure this whole thing is a PR stunt to stir up word of mouth. Which of course is working because we all like to argue.

      • Anderenortsfalsch@discuss.tchncs.de
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        3 hours ago

        I don’t fault the actors or even the studio for wanting to feature their high paid actors on the movie poster

        But already the original failed to do that. Imagine a movie like that featuring high paid male actors in a way that their faces are minimalized to a point they are unrecognizable (just check their posters and how prominent their faces stare at you). No one would do that. Just because people are used to the old poster does not make it good. The original is a failure that did a disservice to the women on it, just one we know and are nostalgic for. I do not think this fan poster was done in malice but because it is still not recognized wildly as a problem and we need to get the message out: Show the women’s faces as much as you show the men’s faces.

        I don’t think this is a PR stunt, I think it is honest feelings that come up for a reason.

        Imagine finally as a person of color having made it to a point in your career that YOU are the center piece of a movie poster of a highly anticipated movie and just with a finger snip someone erases that because they love an old poster that erased other women’s faces at a time where no one bat an eye about it.

        Again, I understand nostalgia. I am 58 y.o. and I had to let go a myriad of things that were just fine in my youth and learn why they definitely were bad back then and are now. Let that old poster die. It is not good, its mood is erasing women, which is wicked, I give it that.

  • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    In matters of taste, the customer is always right.

    Nobody but the audience gets to decide what the audience wants. Not writers, not actors, not directors, not graphic designers. If you can give the audience something they didn’t know that they wanted until they got it, so much the better for you. But if the audience just plain wants something else, then there’s no amount of cajoling or negotiation that will make them feel otherwise.

    That said, I have no idea what the collective response is to either of these posters, and this does feel a bit like a tempest in a teapot.

    • squid_slime@lemm.ee
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      5 hours ago

      You haven’t worked a service gig comrade. When someone asks for they’re bacon sandwich to be raw you’ll understand.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techOP
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      5 hours ago

      Yeah maybe not calling out your fans on making things that build excitement for your upcoming project is the best course of action as an actor. It’s like Daisy Ridley calling out Star Wars fans for having the wrong body shape in cosplay or something else equally stupid. They’re fans. They’re having fun. You don’t get to tell your fans how they’re supposed to enjoy your work.

  • nobody158@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Imo the fan one is better. They should have done the red lipstick with a smirk rather than green and looking bored.

  • scbasteve7@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    If it was her decision that her full face should be on display, the backlash should be evidence enough that someone else gets paid to make those decisions, not her.

    The original looks boring. She has absolutely no emotions on her face. There’s no mystique, no ‘wickedness’. Even the composition looks like something a high schooler in Photoshop class would make.

    The edit isn’t perfect either. But at least it pays homage to the original in more than just image. It adds that mystique back, and makes her look more menacing.

    What it truly boils down to is ego. Although the edit is better, and so many people agree on it, it doesn’t show her full face. And she can’t let that go.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techOP
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      1 day ago

      Guaranteed this whole thing came up before that it didn’t match the style. She showed her cards and now makes it sound like she was the one who pushed against matching the original. Now that the fans see it and dislike it (probably like they warned that fans would), she’s mad about it. It really sounds like she pushed for this design so it wouldn’t hide her face and now she’s furious that fans reacted in the exact way that was predicted.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      The edit looks ridiculous, how is it better?

      I’m not mixing this up right?

      The first picture with the red lipstick is the fan made photo?

      where you can’t see half her face?

      that is fucking weird.

      The original looks so much better.

      what are you talking about there’s no emotions on her face?

      in the fan edit they took away half her face!

      this is crazy that people like the fan edit, It’s like if you cut an origami crane in half, drew a smiley face on it with a Sharpie and you were like “yeah that’s better.”

      • vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de
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        10 hours ago

        The original’s smile communicates much more stuff than the eyes on the face that looks like it’s completely bored.

        Trying to “communicate with her eyes” is exactly what makes the poster bad.

        • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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          10 hours ago

          i disagree, but your interpretation of her eyes is your own and completely beside the point, in any case.

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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              8 hours ago

              ooh good question.

              she has a very deliberate stare and a relaxed face, so it looks like she’s hearing something she doesn’t like that concerns her and she’s deciding what to do about it.

              I also see something vulnerable in there, since the muscles around her eyes aren’t very tense, but still a very earnest look.

              hoping for understanding, with a little resignation to do what must be done.

              she’s nailing it with respect to her role, now that you bring it up.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  7 hours ago

                  I thought the resting face was supposed to be aggressive or bitchy?

                  she doesn’t really have those qualities in this expression.

          • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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            8 hours ago

            It’s not besides the point. It’s in fact the whole point. That’s why there is a fan edit and a response and a backlash to the backlash.

            All of this is the point here. You can’t handwave away the other side cause you don’t agree or want to handle that argument.

            Her eyes look bored and like she’s trying to look serious. Like she’s worried you realized you can smell her last fart.

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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              7 hours ago

              “All of this is the point here.”

              no, unless you are responding to somebody else, you are barking up a tree in a completely separate field.

              “You can’t handwave away the other side cause you don’t agree or want to handle that argument.”

              I’ve swatted every insult and argument here so far without breaking a sweat because they have no standing or, like your comments, are completely irrelevant to my comments, what you might want to try reading before responding to.

              what you think of her expression is completely immaterial and irrelevant to any of my comments.

              maybe you think you’re responding to somebody else?

              you can think anything you like about her expression. whatever you like; it sounds like you like farts, so you’re thinking about farts.

              That’s fine, and is completely irrelevant with respect to invalidating her own feelings of erasure.

              that is what I have been addressing, and what most of you have completely whiffed on or shamefully been attacking her for.

              I don’t care how people see the poster, I care that people are not respecting her feelings at being erased from her own artwork.

              it doesn’t matter what you think of the artwork in the slightest.

              it matters that you’re disrespecting someone for expressing themselves, bullying someone because they are being sincere.

              you’re dehumanizing them because what they say makes you uncomfortable.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  7 hours ago

                  what do you need help with understanding here?

                  you need an example of someone that made “bad” art, you mean?

              • 5in1k@lemm.ee
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                6 hours ago

                Her own artwork…. Movies are collaborations. She it a tiny but important part of the artwork not the entirety. Shit she’s like the sixth person playing the role. She created not much.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  5 hours ago

                  “She it a tiny but important part of the artwork…”

                  yes. and look how furious and contemptuous it has still made you that she has an opinion about her own work.

                  you claim she’s so unimportant, so why is it that she deserves so much contempt and abuse from a dozen strangers in one post simply for expressing her opinion, without demanding change or attacking anyone.

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techOP
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        19 hours ago

        That was never the point. I’m not commenting on if it’s better or not. Her reaction to something a fan made is what we’re all talking about.

  • stewie3128@lemm.ee
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    17 hours ago

    The ego and vanity is astounding. And the movie poster sucks because she’s looking straight at the camera.

  • kshade@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen

    Congratulations I guess?

  • aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Nerve status: Struck

    As we all know snapping at the fans, especially over matters of source material accuracy, always works out well for everyone involved in the making of the adaptation.

    • 5in1k@lemm.ee
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      6 hours ago

      Yeah. Metallica sued their fans 20 years ago and I still won’t listen to them on purpose and shit talk them when I hear them.